Sourdough - Garlic Bread

I've never made Sourdough Garlic Bread before. I grabbed the starter from the fridge and got started. Starter is amazing if you think about it. I do not feed the starter regularly. I've gone months without feeding it before. I've had this starter 3 or 4 years now. I just forget to feed it sometimes.  Last year, I tried using milk and sugar to feed the the starter. Maybe because I only did that one feeding, it was different but not a big difference in the taste. So I went back to just using flour and water. I pulled it out of the fridge, added about a 1 1/2 cups of flour and some hot tap water. I let it sit for a few hours.

Time to make the dough! I added two cups of starter, 2 tsp of salt and 2 tbsp of sugar. Then I added 1 cup of hot tap water. I used the handle of a wooden spoon to stir it until I can use my hands. The spoon handle is easy to clean. Lastly, I added flour until the dough was easy to handle without sticking to my hands. If you want to know which recipe I use this is it: "by SteveTheBreadGuy"
How to make sourdough bread at home

I also added some Oregano and Garlic Powder. I should have added that sooner, but honestly I did not start out thinking I was going to make garlic bread. I did not measure how much I put in, I just poured in what I thought I would like. Kneaded it to get it all mixed in. Evidently I like a lot of it.

Added a little Olive Oil so that it will not stick to the sides of the bowl, put a towel over it and let it rise. Starting at 9 PM on Friday night, I let it sit overnight and then some. The yeast was not real active, probably because I have not been making bread for a while.

About 10 AM Saturday, it has risen a lot. Punched it down, did a few folds. Shaped it back to a ball. I put a little olive oil in the pan, wiped the edges with a paper towel and plopped the dough in it to let it rise. I let it rise all day.

I had it just in the kitchen, but it was in a cool place. I finally moved it to a place where the sun was shining in. That seemed to get it rising faster.

Waited until it was this big enough. It was pretty lumpy looking this go round.

Preheated the oven to 375. Stuck it in, and set the timer for 30 minutes. The house was starting to smell like pizza night. My son got excited because he thought I was making pizza. At 30 minutes I checked it. Ii still had dough sticking to the knife. Set it for another 2 minutes...still doughy. Another 5 minutes...still dough on the knife. I did this a few times. I was getting worried the crust would burn or be as hard as a rock.

Out of the oven and on the rack. It's about 9:30 Saturday evening. Normally the total process does not take this long. I'm thinking it was because the starter was weak, and it was set in a cool place to rise. Therefore, it took a long time to rise this time. In the past, I did not have to wait long enough to let it rise. I just went by the clock, but you really need to go by looking at it. It rises faster when it's warmer in the house.

Success! We really like the taste. I will be adding garlic and oregano again.

The crust is crunchy, but not real thick. I would have liked it if the bread had bigger holes in the rise, but when it is like this it is easier to put spreads on it. Sopped with a little balsamic vinegar and olive oil, and it tastes great.

Tell me your favorite sourdough recipe.  It is real easy to make since it just sits around. Basically all you do is touch it a few times and let it sit.

Stone cakes 2.0

Actually, I've been making stone cakes for a number of years. So its more like 10.0. Its always fun to try something new with an old favorite.

3/4 Cup Stone Ground Cornmeal

1 cup Flour

1/2 cup sugar

a little salt

little brown sugar
cinnamon to taste

add water to make pancake batter





Cooking:

We were out of bacon fat, so I used Canola oil. I was expecting it not to taste very well, but it tasted great!

Preheat your cast iron skillet with a little Canola oil.
I use a spoon and scoop out 2 large spoonfuls to make 1 cake.
Turn them over as needed.

A few weeks ago we made them and put powdered sugar on them. I used less sugar in the actual mix.
We like them without the powdered sugar the best.

Finished in front of the Mixer cover.

Let us know if you have any questions. We would like to hear from you.

No Power Hour

So last week on March 25th was Earth Hour 8:30-9:30. We decided to participate and had fun even with our little Coleman lantern. The kiddo got a Jenga game as a prize for reading 100 books so we played that. He loved it! The suspense! It's a nerve-wracking game but still fun. It was his first time playing so imagine his surprise when the tower eventually fell. Because it was so quiet in the house, the noise from the fallen tower was loud and startling.

Easy does it

We enjoyed doing the Earth Hour so much we decided to make it a weekly event. It has been dubbed the "No Power Hour". Last night was our first official No Power Hour. Jenga was played again and then we read Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Seuss. Now we're trying to think of other games that can be played in low light.
If anyone has some ideas on some family activities during our No Power Hour, we'd love to hear them!

Tell us if you are doing something like this and what.

Stone Cakes

Reposted from old blog in 2016:

Basics I found on the internet on Stone Cakes.

1 Cup Stone Ground Cornmeal

⅓ cup Flour

¼ cup sugar

cinnamon to taste

add water to make pancake batter

Sometimes I add Brown Sugar, and or Milk

Cooking:

You can cook them like pancakes, but I like to fry them in bacon grease. I should say on bacon grease, because they are not submerged.

I have made them without flour before cause we were out that time. They were ok.

Basic Sourdough Bread

Basic Sourdough Bread

Not the best looking loaf, but it sure tasted good.

• 2 cups sourdough starter
• 1 cup hot tap water
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 cups flour

Knead to make the dough, put in an oiled (Vegetable oil, so the dough doesn't stick to sides) bowl. Put a towel over the bowl and let it sit all day or night (8 to 9.5 hrs, or more depending on the temperature).

Then Punch it down and knead the dough. Place in a small oiled bread pan and let it rise again so that it crests the pan (2 to 3.5 hrs, again depending on the temperature) .

Bake at 375 Degrees for 30 minutes.

How I learned to make bread

I watched a lot of videos, and this one has helped me the most, and I seem to refer to this to remember how to do it.
by SteveTheBreadGuy
How to make sourdough bread at home

My Starter

• Here it is before this load of bread
• My started is almost 2 years old. 
• Sometimes I forget to feed it. Onetime I did not feed it for over a month and a half. 
• I mainly only feed it all purpose flour and water, but I read somewhere that someone feed their sugar and milk. I did that after this past loaf of bread to see what happens. I need to check it